Meghan Frazier, Retention Lead at Heights, the science-backed supplement brand, recently joined the Functional & Fabulous podcast to unbox the secrets of customer loyalty and sustainable growth. Drawing from her background at Wayfair and Tails.com, Meghan emphasised that mastering retention requires an intimate understanding of the customer experience, moving beyond surface-level discounts, and strategically leveraging new communication channels like WhatsApp.
The Power of Grounding Retention in Customer Service (CX)
Meghan argues that success in retention is fundamentally linked to understanding the Customer Experience (CX). By spending time with CX tickets, a retention professional gains a practical understanding of how a company's systems and processes work, from delivery mechanisms to customer contact methods. This knowledge is crucial for developing practical retention strategies, rather than "pie in the sky" ideas that are impossible to implement.
Meghan also adds that, this also means understanding the language customers use day-to-day issues and weaving it into their communications for all brand copy, including check-in emails and cancellation flows.
Strategic Cancellation Intervention Drives Massive Value
Cancellation intervention which is diverting a customer from fully cancelling their subscription. This is massively important for business learning and stability. Heights' have achieved a successful intervention rate of 20% which is significantly higher than the 5-8% Meghan has seen at other companies. She attributes to constant testing, learning, and thoughtful segmentation.
Meghan also emphasises that the key is to avoid "offer-conditioning" customers by applying a one-size-fits-all discount. Instead, they focus on segmentation, addressing specific issues and carefully timing discounts.
Leveraging New Channels and Celebrating Customer Voice
Beyond the cancellation flow, nurturing customers in their stable phase is vital. Meghan and the Heights team work to build brand value without resorting to "ghosting" or over-communicating.
A powerful tool for this is celebrating when the customer voice has led to a change in the business. Heights shares updates on changes, like redesigning packaging to reduce cardboard, via emails and Instagram videos, demonstrating that the business listens. This builds brand loyalty in a way even the product cannot.
Meghan sees WhatsApp as a massively exciting and growing channel, representing 10% of Heights' overall customer contacts within two months of being launched for CX. Where it shines in the transactional space for intimate reminders about orders and easy access to customer care, reducing friction.
Want to explore how to integrate customer experience into your retention strategy, or how AI-driven churn prediction and channel-specific marketing can unlock sustainable growth for your ecommerce business?
Watch the full conversation with Meghan Frazier here, or listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Youtube Music here.
